A Mother's Day Challenge

A mother’s love and devotion is a powerful force that nurtures her family, creating bonds that endure through every challenge and triumph. She is often the glue that holds everyone together, offering strength, comfort, and unwavering support. 

It was with this love and devotion that Anna Jarvis was inspired to create Mother’s Day in the United States, honouring not just her own mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, but all mothers who give selflessly of themselves. Ann wasn’t just a mother to her own children—she was a guiding force, founding “Mother’s Day Work Clubs” in the late 1850s to improve health and sanitation. She organised women to support struggling mothers and their children, nursed soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, and, after the war, worked tirelessly to promote unity and healing in her community. Her devotion was limitless, and it was Ann’s dream to have a day dedicated to mothers—a dream that Anna would fulfill after her mother’s passing.

In 1908, the first official Mother’s Day was held in Grafton, West Virginia, Anna’s hometown. She invited families to join her in recognising the profound influence of motherhood and to remember her own mother, who had passed away three years earlier. Following the celebration, Anna’s idea gained support nationwide, leading her to campaign for Mother’s Day to be recognised as an official holiday. She chose the second Sunday in May, marking the anniversary of her mother’s passing.

Within a few short years, the celebration spread across most U.S. states and internationally to Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico. By 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May a national holiday in the United States.

Through Anna’s determination, Mother’s Day became a celebration of the quiet sacrifices and unconditional love that mothers embody, inspiring families worldwide to pause and say, “Thank you”.